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“I have some loose leaf houijcha at work but I wanted some today at home, so I picked up this little package of 10 teabags in Japantown. This is a mesh teabag which is a little bit better than the...”
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“Sipdown no. 40 for the year 2014. A sample teabag from the work stash. Again guessing at temperature. Split the baby on time between the suggested 30 seconds to 1 minute and steeped for 45...”
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From Maeda-en

Product Detail
Craving a good cup of toasty tea, but not in the mood to deal with the mess? We have just the solution for you!
Maeda-en is proud to offer you deliciousness and convenience all at the same time: crushed Houji-cha (roasted green tea) leaves are packed in mesh pyramid bags for the maximum steeping & easy clean up. It brews the beautiful dark amber, and tastes just like a whole leaf brew!

Brew 1 tea bag in 8 oz of par-boil water, and swish around for 30 seconds to up to a minute. For a great cold-brew, stick one tea bag in a bottle of water and shake vigorously!

Maeda-En has been in business for the last 25 years as an importer, manufacturer and wholesaler of green tea & green tea desserts. Our Japanese grown, fresh quality green teas are shipped directly from our production factory in Japan to the states and then world-wide.

3 Tasting Notes

I have some loose leaf houijcha at work but I wanted some today at home, so I picked up this little package of 10 teabags in Japantown. This is a mesh teabag which is a little bit better than the paper ones. This houijcha is made from roasted sencha.

The instructions on the package say to steep for 30 – 60 seconds, but that seemed a bit light so I ended up going for 90 seconds in the end. The aroma is delightful and flavor is pretty good. It has a very caramel, burnt sugar flavor but I’m detecting a tiny bit of vegetal bitterness in the finish. The other houjicha I have is a loose leaf from Den’s Tea that’s made out of roasted bancha. I have to say I prefer the Den’s version because it is sweeter and more aromatic (and it’s loose leaf, which makes a difference as well). But this is still a nice everyday tea, and good for the evening because there’s less caffeine. I need to try cold brewing it sometime! Yummy!

Sipdown no. 40 for the year 2014. A sample teabag from the work stash. Again guessing at temperature. Split the baby on time between the suggested 30 seconds to 1 minute and steeped for 45 seconds.

I don’t think I’ve ever had houji-cha before (and now because of the thing… you know, the phobia…) it might be a long time before I have it again unless I have some other samples tucked away somewhere.

Which is a shame because this is delicious. The aroma after steeping is wonderfully roasty, almost like an oolong but not as strong and with clear whiffs of green tea vegetalness. There’s a sweet toastiness to the flavor, too, but without reminding me of popcorn like genmaicha does. I don’t get any bitterness, just a bit of grass in the finish that lets me know this is a Japanese green tea despite what my senses might be telling me.

This toastiness is more like what you get from roast vegetables. Though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it caramel, I can see where that thought originates. It’s the same sort of roasted sweetness you get from carmelized vegetables, like onions.

Really enjoyable.

Preparation

i LOVE hojicha and recently acquired it!! granted it’s just in teabags (by Eden) but WOW what an amazing flavor profile. yes, i too get a roasted/toasted sensation from the tea, while still being able to detect that it’s a green tea. it does remind me a little of oolong come to think of it, as both remind me of the kind of tea served up in Japanese restaurants! (at least the kind i frequent..) what i distinctly remember about the tea, despite not knowing what kind they use, is that it definitely has a roasted brown-rice quality…in my particular hojichas i do get a bit of popcorn, but maybe Hojicha varies among brand, and from teabag to loose leaf! i’m excited to try all kinds now. ur ‘caramelized vegetable’ note sounds scrumptious tho!